Grace & Tom - One

Grace was kind enough to give me more information about their beautiful and personal day. Here's what she had to say:

"Tom and I were originally planning to have a small but slightly more traditional wedding up in his home city, but when plans didn't quite go smoothly, we abandoned that plan and decided to just pare it down to the bare elements. Our goal was to make the day intimate and simple, while still retaining the ritual and "special-ness" I felt our wedding should have. So we decided to just have the two of us and our officiant, who was also a dear friend and very talented photographer Greg Murphy-Dillow at the event. We also wrote our own vows, and I cobbled together the ceremony from several sources, including a fairy tale book I had recently read."

Her dupioni silk gown is so striking with her her hair and porceline skin. She looks like she was born to wear that color purple. Here is what she said about the dress:

"My ensemble was inspired by my extreme love of Pre-Raphaelite art, in fact, several of the poses I put on the "pose suggestion sheet" were taken directly from artworks by the Victorian Romantics. To any bride, I'd recommend considering not just other weddings as inspiration, but also the centuries of romantic art from which to draw poses! I had also drooled over gowns by such designers as Uptight Clothing, Rossetti Costumes, and Elnara's Medieval Bridal Fashions. Thankfully, I have a mom who is an excellent seamstress, and loves a good challenge. Together we set out to make a gown like the ones I had seen and loved, even though neither of us had ever worked with boning or dupioni fabric before, and we had no idea what we were doing. Thanks to help from several places (thanks, corset making list on Livejournal.com, Elnara, and Sheri!) we were able to make it, but not without a literal and liberal sampling of blood, sweat, and tears first. Heck, the fabric alone took me a year to track down (I had a very specific picture in mind of what shade of purple dupioni silk I wanted...my favorite color...and it seemed no one in the world made it!). The embroidery on the gown was done by my friend Christine, who owns a great embroidery Husqvarna sewing machine. I brought her some extra purple dupioni and the gold brocade we used on the sleeves and she created the appliques for me, which my mom then sewed on by hand."

Grace also has a blog with more Pre-Raphaelite eye candy. Check out the Beautiful Necessity for more.


Grace's jewelry was custom made for her by Jen Parrish of Parrish Relics. Her necklace featured a stained glass image of Tristan and Isolde, done by Edward Burne-Jones as well a crowned heart with the initials "TT" standing for her new husband's nickname.


Right after the "I do's" Tom and Grace enjoyed a quiet moment on a bench together. I love how blissfully happy they look in this picture.



Check back later today for more pictures and details about Grace and Tom's wedding.